Tony Wenas: The Environment and Surrounding Communities Must Grow With Freeport

07 July 2021

PT. Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) is committed that the environment around the company and the community must grow with PTFI. This was stated by the President Director of PTFI, Tony Wenas, at the Kompas Talk activity organized by Harian Kompas with PTFI with the theme "Ecosystem Restoration for Biodiversity Sustainability" through live on zoom and live streaming, on Tuesday, 6th July 2021. He said PTFI is consistent with the environment, towards economic development, and towards the surrounding community. "So we believe that the environment around us and the community around us must grow together with us. So that's our commitment to be part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," said Tony.

He revealed that several items from the SDGs had been carried out regarding biodiversity and environmental conservation. "There are many things that we have done starting from reclamation, for example at the biodiversity research center in the lowlands called Mile 21. There we prove that the telling land, the rest of the sandy land that was ex-mining is thriving again," he said. He explained that PT Freeport Indonesia continues to carry out restoration of ex-mining operations, including reclamation and rehabilitation, which has been carried out since 1999.

"We have replanted more than 2.800 hectares of reclamation from 1999 to last year. It is in the Grasberg area, Tembagapura, Kuala Kencana and several other areas," he said. It is said, in the first half of this year, one million trees have been replanted with an area of 400 hectares. In fact, it is planned that by 2021 it could reach 2.7 million trees on an area of about 2000 hectares.

According to him, the sustainability of the biological ecosystem is important, considering that mining activities will stop in the future. "One day mining activities will stop, and we need to convince the community that after mining there, the people around us can continue to live a better life," he said. In addition to carrying out restoration, PT Freeport Indonesia also focuses on educating the surrounding community regarding the sustainability of biological ecosystems.

Another thing that equally important is education about biodiversity and the environment, so PTFI publishes 12 types of books to educate students from elementary, middle and high school. "Students are given the opportunity to visit our conservation area so that they understand about the rich biodiversity in Papua and also how to learn about how we can treat it in the future," said Tony.

The activity, which was guided by moderator Kompas TV news anchor, Ntias Anisa, also presented other panelists besides Tony Wenas, which are the Director General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Wiratno; The Board of Trustees of the Kehati Foundation, Erna Witoelar; Public Figure and Environmental Activist, Nugie, and the Head of Regional Research and Development Agency (Balitbangda) West Papua Province, Charlie D. Heatubun.

 

http://www.salampapua.com/2021/07/tony-wenas-lingkungan-dan-masyarakat.html

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